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The scariest part of looking for a job, even for Executives and Technology Professionals, is often fear you won't give the 'right' answer to interview questions. Google 'Interview Questions' and get articles with long lists of questions and appropriate answers. The advice varies so much you still don't know how to handle typical questions. If you want your answers to stand out from the others don't copy a canned answer from a 'so called' internet expert.

You know you can anticipate most questions and you know which ones throw you. You can prepare, but be careful, when you appear to search for the 'right' answer, the interviewer will probably notice and not take your answer seriously. Or worse, see you as a 'me too' candidate when they are looking for an 'out of the box' thinker. No canned answers accepted. No one likes to interview a well rehearsed phony.

Now you know what not to do, let's examine how you can be ready for any interview question. As a professional, you have interviewed a lot of people. Remember who impressed you the most? It was probably the people who demonstrated they understood your market, the corporate mission and the role you were trying to fill. Use your own experience to guide you on the answers to interview questions.

Prepare for a successful job interview by laying the groundwork to answer most questions:

' Know the business the company is in.
' Know who their customers are.
' Know why customers buy.
' Know how the company is positioned against the competition.
' Know the challenges the company faces.
' Understand the job requirements and why the job is open.

Answer any question in terms of their business, their niche and how your background maps to their current business model. Those are the 'right' answers.

Ambiguous questions like, 'Tell me about yourself,' and 'What would your last manager say about you?' are not asked to stump you. Understand the interviewer made time from his/her busy schedule because there is a job opening and they suspect you may be the right person to fill the spot. They are looking for reasons to hire you. They want you to tell them why they are taking their time to talk to you.

Your research, tells you exactly how to answer any question no matter who asks. If the CFO is asking, they want to know how your background demonstrates fiscal responsibility. If the Vice President of Sales is asking, they want to know how your background demonstrates concern for customer's needs, and so on. The answer to any question during an interview starts with understanding who is asking.

And the most important aspect of answering interview questions correctly is you must own your resume; truly know the details of your own background in terms of the tasks you performed and the affects your results had on other departments. Now you are ready to answer interview question with the 'right' answer.